lebanese / design / advertising / fashion / media

2012 Christmas miracle: Clementine got it right!

By Admin I: wait! I’m not trying to be the Christmas spirit spreading peace and joy everywhere, I’m really not. Clementine got it right and this happens every once in a blue moon for them and us!

Well you could call it a cheesy flat approach to promoting a country especially when it comes to the copywriting here, but being fair, this campaign looks nothing like the previous ministry of tourism campaigns that were done by one of the most prestigious multi-nationals (Impact BBDO). There are no bikini vs. Chador, no hummus plates and no mountain-beach analogy either.

The campaign plays on one very very ‘pure’ idea of the fact that we’re a population that overcomes difficulties and keep smiling (we do burn some tires, gossip like sluts and are highly sectarian as well). Talking visuals, the campaign proved to be nothing sloppy; weird enough, the art direction was well thought of, the coloring, the acting, the rhythm, it’s almost a full package of an ad that makes you daydream for seconds about the same questions asked in the video (or maybe I’m too festive to see the negatives).

To wrap it up, it’s a good campaign that deserves recognition for not faking promises about Lebanon; yes we’re just a fun country that should drop all other fake cliches that school books have injected in our heads.

Clementine in the end couldn’t but put too much sugar in the tea and play its never-ending failing wordplay manifesting this time in “Smilebanon” and another smiley emoticon symbol in the ministry logo which could’ve been a quite good ending, without the prior slogan.

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Well for once in quite sometime, bros, I seem to agree with you :-) Not going to comment on Clementine’s work…I could go on for days, but I remain a skeptic when it comes to the MOT’s “taste and tone”. Let’s hope this is a foreshadow of things to come from those responsible at the ministry.

so this is a promo for the ministry of TOURISM encouraging the foreigners to visit our country and enjoy their vacation in it? oh wait, no… it is promoting the smile of the Lebanese (à la Byblos Bank + Bank Audi + Alpha “khat asskari”…).
Well, I do really hope the foreigners will manage to capture some smiles when they come and ENJOY our traffic jams, our power cuts, our floods of refugees… and our 8 o’clock news!

Well the promoted feature is the welcoming atmosphere, and they did shed lights on entertainment and fun activities. In the end even Afganistan can find a USP to promote, let’s not be too pessimistic about this country..

nah! this is rather a Nido ad not an MOT. This whole innocent story will not increase the number of tourists to my opinion. This is not it. The manege, the ambiance does not even reflect Lebanon nor its culture…I don’t see a Miraclementine here! woups!sowwy!

I totally agree with Souad and would like to tell you that the main kid is the son of Sami Saab one of the managing partners, who also used him in the Novolac print adds and he also used his daughter in the LAF outdoor campaigns, so now that they got all those accounts “illegally” by pure “wasta” Sami is using the same mentality in his choices of actors. lebanon is not a family business this is disgusting.